Percy Bysshe Shelley - The Cloud' - poem

The Cloud
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
read by Frances Jeater
rnaudioproductions for http://www.ipodity.com/
http://www.allcast.co.uk/

**verse 4 and 6 not recorded - but the full text is here.

I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers,
From the seas and the streams;
I bear light shade for the leaves when laid
In their noonday dreams.
From my wings are shaken the dews that waken
The sweet buds every one,
When rocked to rest on their mother's breast,
As she dances about the sun.
I wield the flail of the lashing hail,
And whiten the green plains under,
And then again I dissolve it in rain,
And laugh as I pass in thunder.
I sift the snow on the mountains below,
And their great pines groan aghast;
And all the night 'tis my pillow white,
While I sleep in the arms of the blast.
Sublime on the towers of my skiey bowers,
Lightning, my pilot, sits;
In a cavern under is fettered the thunder,
It struggles and howls at fits;
Over earth and ocean, with gentle motion,
This pilot is guiding me,
Lured by the love of the genii that move
In the depths of the purple sea;
Over the rills, and the crags, and the hills,
Over the lakes and the plains,
Wherever he dream, under mountain or stream,
The Spirit he loves remains;
And I all the while bask in Heaven's blue smile,
Whilst he is dissolving in rains.
The sanguine Sunrise, with his meteor eyes,
And his burning plumes outspread,
Leaps on the back of my sailing rack,
When the morning star shines dead;
As on the jag of a mountain crag,
Which an earthquake rocks and swings,
An eagle alit one moment may sit
In the light of its golden wings.
And when Sunset may breathe, from the lit sea beneath,
Its ardors of rest and of love,
And the crimson pall of eve may fall
From the depth of Heaven above,
With wings folded I rest, on mine aery nest,
As still as a brooding dove.
That orbed maiden with white fire laden,
Whom mortals call the Moon,
Glides glimmering o'er my fleece-like floor,
By the midnight breezes strewn;
And wherever the beat of her unseen feet,
Which only the angels hear,
May have broken the woof of my tent's thin roof,
The stars peep behind her and peer;
And I laugh to see them whirl and flee,
Like a swarm of golden bees,
When I widen the rent in my wind-built tent,
Till the calm rivers, lakes, and seas,
Like strips of the sky fallen through me on high,
Are each paved with the moon and these.
I bind the Sun's throne with a burning zone,
And the Moon's with a girdle of pearl;
The volcanoes are dim, and the stars reel and swim
When the whirlwinds my banner unfurl.
From cape to cape, with a bridge-like shape,
Over a torrent sea,
Sunbeam-proof, I hang like a roof,--
The mountains its columns be.
The triumphal arch through which I march
With hurricane, fire, and snow,
When the Powers of the air are chained to my chair,
Is the million-colored bow;
The sphere-fire above its soft colors wove,
While the moist Earth was laughing below.
I am the daughter of Earth and Water,
And the nursling of the Sky;
I pass through the pores of the ocean and shores;
I change, but I cannot die.
For after the rain when with never a stain
The pavilion of Heaven is bare,
And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams
Build up the blue dome of air,
I silently laugh at my own cenotaph,
And out of the caverns of rain,
Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb,
I arise and unbuild it again.

Audio created by Robert Nichol AudioProductions London all rights reserved

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[WASSABiiPANCiTCANTON]

im performing this poem but i dont know whats it about? can anyone answer me? whats does this poem mean? relate it with love! thanks!

[JustAudio2008]

Shelley's song is describing various types of clouds using a 4/3 iambic bar structure. He is using nymphs to once again reveal his love affair with nature while reinforcing his romantic idealism. He was a lover in every sense of the word and his poetry in "The Cloud" is a prime example.

[JustAudio2008]

Here's a clue from Literary Encyclopedia:

"Written in anaepests, favoured by Shelley in 1820, his descriptive sketches of various cloud types or formations are readily identifiable with the categories proposed by Luke Howard."

Imagine you are a nymph with clouds arriving on the scene. Now, re-read the stanzas and they will start coming alive for you.

[JustAudio2008]

Remember, many poems are meant to be taken literally. Let your mind rest and allow the words ease your understanding and enhance your enjoyment. It also helps to read the poems out loud to yourself more than once. Think gracefully when reading Shelley.

[rblwoaclu]

that was beautiful.

[ripsyd]

i am the daughter of earth and water

- one of my favorites

[indiansummerfun]

blue smile !!!



[PoetryETrain]

Thank you, thia has been added to our playlists here and on facebook...

[nmpost7]

What better pleasure can there be, than a beautiful poem read out so beautifully. Thank you for posting. Would like to know of more readings by Frances Jeater.

[hadricalifornia]

Well read!! But incomplete, a half and a whole stanza are missing

[Xylok]

Beautifully orated masterpiece. ive watched this many, many times now and have been sharing it with friends on my own poetry site who have also enjoyed it. so thanks for posting it.

[Thisquestion]

This is one of those poems, where the scheme seems to lull you into a since of security, and the imagery is pleasant, yet the meaning is often profound, this poem being my favorite example of that.

[only1clover]

WoW! such good imagery with very good rhyme skeem...luv it!

[BSFBOPE]

lovely reading of a beautiful poem

[Xylok]

thanks for posting this phenomenal reading of a true masterpiece